Barcelona completed their Champions League semi final turnaround on Saturday evening as a 2-0 scoreline at Stamford Bridge ensured they would book their place in the Champions League final for the fourth successive campaign.

Chelsea held a narrow 1-0 lead into the evening after they condemned Barcelona to their first competitive home defeat since February 2019 in the first leg at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys last weekend. 

However, a nervy start saw Aitana Bonmati's low driven, deflected shot set the tone in the first period before Kadeisha Buchanan's sending off late into the second half quickly led to Fridolina Rolfo's goal from the spot take advantage of the extra player.

A sellout crowd on Saturday evening put the roof on the house Hayes has built in the 12 years she's enjoyed on the West End, but as Chelsea experienced tragedy in the face of their greatest roadblock to adding the European Cup to their otherwise spotless trophy cabinet, her farewell tour took a brooding twist.

The Blues missed a surfeit of chances throughout the evening, particularly in the first half, but were made to rue them upon fulltime as Emma Hayes brings an end to her Stamford Bridge ruling with defeat.

For European champions Barcelona, they will face either Lyon or PSG in Bilbao in little under a months' time. 

  • Story of the match

Chelsea were hit with an injury blow ahead of kickoff, with Mayra Ramirez failing to make the matchday squad. Millie Bright remained on the bench as she had done last time out in Barcelona as the Blues luxuriated a full week's break ahead of the second leg.

Jonathan Giraldez opted to rest many of his players in their midweek trip to Levante as Keira Walsh, Salma Paralluelo, Caroline Graham Hansen, Irene Paredes, Sandra Panos, Ona Batlle, Ingrid Engen, and Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati were reinstated.

The only trophy that has evaded Emma Hayes during her time at Chelsea is the Champions League, which only heightened the narrative as they locked horns with Barcelona in her final Stamford Bridge outing.

But against La Blaugrana - who had won 17 of their 18 competitive away games this season, scoring three goals or more in 13 of their previous 15 road trips - the roadblock to continental success couldn't have been more hellish.

Playing at a high intensity from the start, it was Barcelona who took the game to the Blues in the first half, and the pre-match cries for the home crowd to 'bring the noise' was muzzled quickly, giving way to a nervous tension around each side of the stadium.

Chelsea, operating with such little room thanks to their guest's hound-like press, were liable to putting themselves under forced nervousness, too. 

Kadeisha Buchanan was among those to invite pressure early on, and it was Giraldez's chasing pack who carved the first meaningful shot of the evening, with Graham Hansen forcing Hannah Hampton into a save following a low driven shot into the bottom left corner.

But it wouldn't be long after that the same corner would bear fruits for Barcelona, who found the aggregate equaliser through the reliable source of the world's best - Aitana Bonmati.

Such is the clandestine way Barcelona build from the back, control possession, and then find a cloak-and-dagger from nowhere - Bonmati picked up the ball just outside the box, worked some room for herself, before bobbling the ball off Buchanan and beyond Hampton.

Unsettled by the opener, the Blues could have seen the fixture slip further away in the next attack when Hansen's pull-back narrowly missed Paralluelo, thanks to Erin Cuthbert's last ditch clearance.

The Scottish international was the only one alive to the danger as the Blues were dealt another problem with a pinball from the corner.

But after surviving the brief onslaught that ensued after Bonmati's deadlock breaker, Hayes' side would be the next to go all guns blazing.

In a frantic 10 minute period, Chelsea fired on all cylinders, but rued several glaring opportunities whilst La Blaugranas were pinned back in their own box. 

Melanie Leupolz was at the centre of it all after her shot smashed the crossbar despite just an open goal between her and a goal following Lauren James' pull-back.

Roles were reversed minutes later as Leupolz' pass into James saw the latter miss her shot entirely.

Catarina Macario's volley from 20 yards, which was pushed behind for a corner, ended the Blues' best spell of the half before Fridolina Rolfo would have two shots go right of Hampton's goal to close the first period.

An aggregate scoreline of 1-1 kept the tie poised going into the second half - and with 45 minutes separating either team and a ticket to Bilbao for the final - the hope that an exciting end would be upon the crowd pulsated.

Starting much like the first period, Giraldez' European giants controlled the early exchanges of the second half, with a penalty shout being waved away at the height of their rhythm.

Chelsea, finding their most viable lane to goal through James, still delivered scares themselves.

The Lioness star's floated ball over the visitor's defence and into the path of Ashley lawrence saw her subsequent ball across goal meet Sjoeke Nusken, who's stretching shot hit the base of the post.

The story of the game was of Chelsea wastefulness and Barca nonchalence, and things became a whole more difficult for the Blues after Buchanan was sent off for a second yellow card in the 60th minute.

Paralluelo almost immediately took advantage of the extra player but headed Rolfo's cross just over the crossbar.

In the next two forays forward, Johanna Ryting Kaneryd would mirror Batlle's effort after cutting inside and curling her effort into the grateful gloves of Panos.

But with the ball constantly finding its way back to La Blaugranas, an air of inevitability cascaded a moody west London sky.

In the 72nd minute, following another lengthy VAR intervention, a foul on the earlier goalscorer awarded Barcelona penalty that Fridolina Rolfo would convert into the bottom left corner.

From there on in, the European Champions would dominate possession, just as they had done in large spells of the evening.

But with Lauren James, the Blues' best attacker, going off, the only plus point in the last 20 minutes was the return of captain Millie Bright. 

Barcelona Femeni will play the winner of tomorrow's semi-final match between Lyon and PSG in Bilbao on the 22nd of May next month.

When Catalonia needs a heroine, they often turn to Aitana Bonmati. This was once again the case on Saturday as she played an instrumental role in both goals.

Big games need big players, and Bonmati's all-around display sees the football-obsessed city of Barcelona take one step closer to a third Champions League highpoint in four seasons.